CHESAPEAKE CITY - Canal Day, Chesapeake City's annual tradition, will live to see another year.
The town backed off Monday on the possibility of its cancellation after the Chesapeake City District Civic Association recently supported the street festival's continuation.
Organizers say Canal Day has become overshadowed by the rowdy behavior in the adjacent canal basin, but they expect offensive activities to be curtailed with promises of more police on the water.
“It's an ongoing project and we're going where we can solve what's been going on in the basin," Mayor Bill Kiessling said.
The festival, begun in 1975 by the civic association as a local fundraising effort, has evolved into a major moneymaking event and has become a local summertime tradition.
Its success has attracted unwanted elements, however, namely a separate festival of lewd and reckless behavior lining its borders on the water's edge.
The Coast Guard, the agency in charge of patrolling the basin, is hoping to crack down on violations next year by limiting the number of boats to 150.
It also hopes to make the waterside Chesapeake Inn, which holds activities inspired by Canal Day, apply for a water event permit to bolster the agency's power to make arrests.
“Right now, there are positive moves on the Coast Guard's part," Kiessling said.
Last month, the mayor suggested exploring changes to Canal Day - and even its cancellation - in response to the canal's raucous atmosphere.
“Hopefully, it will not be necessary to go that far," he said Monday. “We need to maintain this interest and not allow it to go under the table."
The town backed off Monday on the possibility of its cancellation after the Chesapeake City District Civic Association recently supported the street festival's continuation.
Organizers say Canal Day has become overshadowed by the rowdy behavior in the adjacent canal basin, but they expect offensive activities to be curtailed with promises of more police on the water.
“It's an ongoing project and we're going where we can solve what's been going on in the basin," Mayor Bill Kiessling said.
The festival, begun in 1975 by the civic association as a local fundraising effort, has evolved into a major moneymaking event and has become a local summertime tradition.
Its success has attracted unwanted elements, however, namely a separate festival of lewd and reckless behavior lining its borders on the water's edge.
The Coast Guard, the agency in charge of patrolling the basin, is hoping to crack down on violations next year by limiting the number of boats to 150.
It also hopes to make the waterside Chesapeake Inn, which holds activities inspired by Canal Day, apply for a water event permit to bolster the agency's power to make arrests.
“Right now, there are positive moves on the Coast Guard's part," Kiessling said.
Last month, the mayor suggested exploring changes to Canal Day - and even its cancellation - in response to the canal's raucous atmosphere.
“Hopefully, it will not be necessary to go that far," he said Monday. “We need to maintain this interest and not allow it to go under the table."